this report, a company spokesman confirmed that the $100,000 reward for information leading to the capture and conviction of the tylenol killer remains unclaimed. so if you have any information which might help the investigation, contact your local police department. that's our report. thanks for watching. due to graphic subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. >> the city of atlanta has a ghastly problem on its hands, someone has been killing young black children. >> they looked down and that's when they seen her body within propped up against the tree. >> all the children are between certain ages, 8 and 15 years of age. we know that they all come from low-income neighborhoods. >> we literally felt that if we found ourselves in the wrong

place at the wrong time, it could easily happen to us. >> it was nightmarish. obviously, every day that we went about solving the case, the police department became vulnerable. >> save our children! save our children! save our children! ♪ "city in fear." here's john seigenthaler. >> in 1979, atlanta, georgia, was the thriving gateway to the american south. finally reaping the hard-won rewards of the civil rights

movement. but all of this would soon be overshadowed by a serial killer prowling the streets of atlanta's inner city neighborhoods. in 1973, maynard jackson is the first african-american mayor of atlanta, and going into the 1980s, he and the people have great expectations. >> we were excited about the mayoral administration that was in. and it gave you hopes and dreams for the future. >> it was a great time of pride. we were experiencing the first black administration, the first black mayor in the city of atlanta, as well as the first black police chief. >> but in the summer of 1979, a shocking discovery marks the beginning of a terror atlanta would never forget.

july 28th, 1979, police respond to a possible homicide in southwest atlanta. >> a woman was out collecting bottles and cans out in a wooded area out near niskey lake road and she found a body of a young teenage boy lying there in the woods. he was 14 years old. >> investigators determine that the body is that of edward hope smith. a week earlier, smith didn't make it home after a night out at a local skating rink. forensics determined he was shot with a .22 caliber weapon. but there is one more grim discovery waiting for investigators searching the woods that day. >> so then they found a second body lying less than 100 feet away. >> there was a little path through there where apparently

individuals had cut through. you could see where people had been dumping rubbish right as you approached it. >> the second body is that of 13-year-old alfred evans, a friend of edward smith who had been reported missing when he didn't go home after a movie. his windpipe is crushed and police suspect he was strangled. they believe the two murders are likely drug related. then on october 21st, 9-year-old youssef belle disappears. his mother camille is interviewed on local television. >> are you jumbled up inside? >> i'm a lot jumbled up inside, but i'm not ready to have a funeral until i see a body. >> camille belle never gives up hope that her son will be found alive. but two months later police bring her the news that they have found youssef's body. >> we're really not sure exactly what happened to youssef belle, only that his body was found in a maintenance trap in an abandoned schoolhouse near atlanta-fulton county stadium. >> but even when the body of another boy, 14-year-old milton

harvey, is discovered later that month, police still don't connect the murders. rather, they consider them random acts of violence in an inner city plagued by drugs and crime. months pass with no new cases of missing or murdered children reported. then on march 4th, 1980, angel lenair's mother becomes frantic when her 12-year-old daughter doesn't come home from school on time. as night falls, she begins a desperate search to find her. >> it was very cold that night. my friends of mine, we drove, we drove, we walked, we strolled. i went forth and back, forth and back, and it was awful. and i just cried and pleaded, and i just said, god, how could this happen? >> six days later, angel's body is discovered bound, gagged, and strangled.

>> who found her was some guys that was standing at the bus stop. and they said, they just happened to look down and that's when they seen her body leaned up, propped up against the tree. not laying down but propped up, sitting up against the tree. >> venus taylor says she will never erase the memory of seeing her daughter's body at the morgue that evening. >> and there she was on the table. i just grabbed her and started crying. just holding her and crying. but she didn't look right. she looked like she was about 60 or 70 years old. her lip was cut off, her ear was cut off. and there was a pair of panties stuffed in her mouth. and it was her, but it just didn't look like her. >> the day after angel's body is

discovered, frederick mathis sends his 10-year-old brother jeffrey to the store. >> i was in the middle of a basketball game so i told jeffrey to go see what mom wants, you know. he's like, okay. and she sent him to get the cigarettes, which is like a block and a half, not even a block and a half. >> when jeffrey never returns, his family begins scouring the neighborhood. >> three people had seen him. and one of his little classmates said she seen somebody in a car driving away after she seen jeffrey walking up the street. we looked for him. we just didn't find him. >> the skeletal remains of jeffrey mathis won't be found for another year. >> every time i think about it, it saddens me, but it angers me also because i could have been the one that went to the store

rather than my smaller kid brother. >> that spring, with five children confirmed dead and one body yet to be found and a perceived lack of concern by the police, members of the black community are both angry and afraid that a serial killer is stalking the streets of atlanta. coming up -- >> how many children do we have to lose in our neighborhood before the police department says, hey, we've got a problem? you do this every morning?

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spring 1980, several young children in atlanta's predominantly poor black neighborhoods have turned up dead. but even as the community puts more pressure on the police to step up the investigation, no one is prepared for the horror of that summer.

may 18th, sometime after 10:00 p.m. 14-year-old eric middlebrooks leaves his family's apartment in southeast atlanta. >> eric middlebrooks went out late one night and told his family he was going out to fix his bike. eric was found the next morning a few blocks away lying beside his bike in a pool of blood. >> i mean they're messing with our kids, man, and there ain't nothing we can do about it. >> i feel it's very sad. something very wrong. >> it's scary. >> the medical examiner determines that eric died of a brain injury due to a blunt instrument. on the day before her 7th birthday, latonya wilson's parents report her missing. >> i'll never forget watching the news, and there was a girl whose face popped up. and i'll never forget telling my mom, she was in one of my elementary school classes. and that's when it really became

personal for me. here's somebody i actually knew. and she is missing. >> black male, age 14, 5'5", 132 pounds, last seen wearing a gray hat. >> every time a body is found, naturally they, you know, you have the tv exposure and the fear level just sort of begins to rise and rise and rise. you could feel the tension building in the city. >> with at least one child disappearing every month, parents in atlanta's black community are not only terrified, they're outraged. >> there are more people concerned about who shot j.r. ewing than is concerned about who killed youssef belle and the other young children in our community. >> the police department doesn't want to alarm the community. they're afraid of panic. but how many children do we have to lose in our neighborhoods before the police department

says, hey, we've got a problem? >> the parents of murdered and missing children in atlanta -- >> three of the victims' mothers, camille belle, willie mae mathis and venus taylor band together to create the committee to stop children's murders, commonly known as "stop." >> a lot of good came out of it because it brought a lot of awareness to people. watch your kids. talk to your kids. >> go in the gym. don't go in the bushes and do it. you all know what's been happening, right? >> yeah. >> children were uneasy. they were afraid. what we did, we taught them to travel in groups. parents formed neighborhood groups, and they would stand on the streets while the buses picked the children up. >> if i'm going to go to the store, cross the street or out the back door, whatever, i take them with me wherever, you know. about them other parents, i don't know. >> although police at first

denied there was any connection between the killings, they must now seriously consider that possibility. the formation of "stop" also puts added pressure on the department to create a task force to investigate the murders. >> we've got the body of a young, black male. we have not made positive identification yet. that will have to come after the autopsy. >> basically, the nature of our investigation was black communities. >> we got to thinking, somebody who would not go noticed in the community had to be doing it. somebody who knew how the police operate, work, and that even it could be somebody in law enforcement. anybody who was approached by a stranger during this time, they would have run from a stranger. yet, somebody was able to get them into vehicles. >> we teach our children to trust those people who happen to be in positions of authority. and now that's being undermined.

this was not a very happy place to be in. >> once we realized that someone was killing kids, it was like terrorize, you know? we was scared to go here or there, anywhere, you know? no further than the front yard. if we were sent anywhere, we would always be together. >> but emmanuel dwayne williams remembers the moment in august, 1980, when he let his little brother clifford go off on his own. >> he said, wayne, you're my older brother. can i help that old lady there take her groceries to her car? so i told him, go ahead. that was one of the biggest mistakes i ever made in my whole entire life. my brother never walked back in that store. >> clifford's body is found the next day, august 21st, next to a

dumpster in the back of a laundromat. he is the 13th child found dead in just over a year. >> i felt that it was important that the families received information from the highest level. so i volunteered to do that. >> chief napper arrives at the jones' home in the early hours. >> the parents, the relatives, knew pretty much even before i got out of the car that it was their child that was found. >> clifford's brother emanuel had the task of identifying the body. >> i saw my brother. he was laying there like he was at peace, asleep. i just cried, tried to grab my brother, tried to wake him up because i refused to believe that he was laying there dead. i just refused to believe that. up next -- >> why is it that they can always get a big drug bust, they can always find a big robbery, you know, a big burglary, but

they can't find out who's killing these children? >> as the body count rises, police go to extreme measures to catch the killer.

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the city of atlanta has a ghastly problem on its hands. someone has been killing young, black children. >> the city was just really in an uproar because it was like it was a phantom. we couldn't find out who it was. >> regardless of where you lived in the city, everybody was concerned with their children. you wouldn't let them out of your eyesight. >> fall 1980, in just over a year, 13 of atlanta's most vulnerable citizens, young, poor and black, are murdered or missing. and police have little evidence to go on. >> what made these cases different is that you don't have -- you don't have a crime

scene, but here we have a teenager who usually has no job, no money, and no property, no automobile, and yet they're disappearing, and their bodies are found long miles away. so how'd they get there? >> as the new school year begins, two more boys disappear. 11-year-old darren glass is last seen at a bus stop. his remains are never recovered. a few weeks later, investigators discover the body of 12-year-old charles stevens. they determine that he was suffocated. ♪ >> he maketh me to lie down in green pastures. >> throughout atlanta the outpouring of grief over the loss of so many innocent children is almost unbearable. ♪ ♪ yes jesus loves me >> fear coupled with a lack of

any solid progress in the investigation fuels wild speculation about who is committing these horrific crimes. >> there were conspiracy theories all over the map in this case. some people said it might be the ku klux klan. other people doubted that because someone who was white could not circulate in a black neighborhood without being very conspicuous. >> and there were those who were saying that even if that person weren't a card carrying member of the klan it was a white person. and that that white person was someone who on a daily basis found it easy to move in and out of the black communities. >> as if to validate the notion that the murders are racially motivated, an explosion rocks a predominantly black neighborhood in northwest atlanta. >> there was a terrible explosion in atlanta today. terrible in its power and terrible because of where it took place.

it may have been a boiler but something blew up in a day-care center filled with children. >> the explosion at bowen homes day-care center kills three small preschool children and a teacher. >> feelings were running very high in the community about the murder cases themselves, so this tended to galvanize the community because they felt that possibly this was part of a pattern of murders. >> i know the frustration you feel. i feel the same frustration. just a minute. >> atlanta's mayor steps in to assure the angry residents that it is not a bomb that exploded, but rather a faulty boiler. >> the only evidence we have at this time indicates that this was an accident. >> all right. move out about 50 yards that way. >> although suspicions linger in the community that the crimes are racially motivated, in mid-october, black and white volunteers worked together to help locate some of the children who are missing. on their first day of searching,

they find the body of latonya wilson, missing for six months. but when investigators find no tangible evidence at the crime scene, the community's frustration plays out on local television. >> why is it they can always get a big drug bust or, you know, they can always find out a big robbery, you know, a big burglary, but they can't find out who's killing these children? all i know, i'm sitting here talking, you could be the one, i don't know. whatever. you or you. anybody could be the one. >> i thought that same thing, right? >> the guy next to me, is this the guy? >> there it is. >> don't nobody know who it is. >> mm-hmm. >> people were saying that we weren't concerned, that we weren't on the case, that we weren't doing all the things that needed to be done. so it was really the department under siege. >> utilizing every available resource, atlanta police even call on renowned psychic dorothy allison. >> do you actually know names? >> yes, i do. >> will there be other murders? >> pardon me? >> will there be other murders?

>> not while i'm here. i guarantee he will not murder while i'm here. i will control him. because i've done it before. >> it became a multiring circus, frankly. anybody looking to make a fast buck from people who are making songs, writing songs about atlanta. they were psychics coming out of the woodwork. >> i was down the homicide task force giving them a description of the killer. this guy has a vendetta to kill 28 black children. unless he's stopped, he will kill again. >> feeling pressure from the public and media, police begin canvassing neighborhoods door to door, looking for any leads. >> we have a form we're going to leave with you, we would like for you to fill out. >> in an unprecedented move, atlanta's mayor appears on local television offering a $100,000 cash reward for any information leading to the arrest and

conviction of the killer. >> somebody somewhere out there knows what we're looking for, knows who's doing this insane series of acts and attacks on our children. $100,000 will shake that information loose. >> with halloween 1980 approaching and the idea of young children out at night unsupervised, mayor jackson also issues a moratorium for the safety of the kids, no trick-or-treating. >> halloween really wasn't an option because of the seriousness and the nature of what was taking place in our community and because of the fear and frustration. >> we want to end this nightmare. we want to apprehend the people or the persons responsible for that. >> but even with all the media attention, money and manpower, the killer strikes again. the two victims, 9-year-old aaron jackson and 16-year-old

patrick rogers are friends and live in the same southeast atlanta neighborhood. the discovery of their bodies brings a tragic end to 1980. coming up -- >> save our children! save our children. >> someone has to take a stand and step out and break the chain of fear in our community. >> atlanta residents band together in an effort to stop the killings. e to use special care in keeping the denture clean. dentures are very different to real teeth. they're about 10 times softer and may have surface pores where bacteria can multiply. polident is designed to clean dentures daily. its unique micro-clean formula kills 99.9% of odor causing bacteria and helps dissolve stains, cleaning in a better way than brushing with toothpaste. that's why i recommend using polident. [ male announcer ] polident. cleaner, fresher and brighter every day. the calcium they take because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum.

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i'm milissa rehberger. here is what is happening. president obama is stuming in ohio. on a four-day tour for battle ground states days from the democratic national convention. in ohio, gop romney says the country needs a new coach and while the remnants of isaac are drenching the mid west, damaging cleanup efforts continue in the gulf states. more than 400,000 are still without power in louisiana where floodwaters remain in some areas. now back to "city in fear."

♪ "city in fear," here's john seigenthaler. throughout 1980, atlanta was the scene of one of the most high-profile killing sprees in the nation's history. nearly 20 young black children had gone missing and were later found dead. many of them strangled or suffocated. adding to the tragedy was the racial divide created in the city as residents in atlanta's black communities blamed the police for not doing enough to find the killer. >> the brutality, sickness and insanity which has been heaped upon our communities must be

stopped. >> we want action. we want action. >> little boys on the street are not safe alone anymore. >> children should have a right to live just like anybody else. and they should -- if they want to go outside and play, they should be able to go outside and play without having to worry about somebody sneaking up on them, snatch them, pull them in the car and kill them. >> people here now wonder more than ever when the epidemic of child murders will end. when the nightmare of uncertainty, fear and frustration will be over. >> the fact that a vicious killer or killers is on the loose has a profound impact on atlanta's youth. >> having a psychological effect on them. you know, you call and talk to parents whose kids have never been bed-wetters, but all of a sudden now was wetting the bed at night, vhsing nightmares. >> i have nightmares. >> what kind of nightmares? >> like, like somebody snatching me and my brothers. >> and that scares you?

>> yes. >> he told me that he wanted to be white. and i made sure i told his doctor, you know, what he had said, that he wanted to be white. and he said, why? he asked him why did he want to be white. and he said, you know, because they wasn't killing the white children. ♪ >> frustrated by law enforcement's inability to catch the killer, parents and civic leaders march on city hall. >> save our children! save our children! save our children! save our children! >> someone has to take a stand and step out and break the chain of fear in our community. >> save our children! save our children! save our children! >> people were extremely afraid

because they didn't know what was happening. our parents were fearful for their children. there were a lot of anxiety and talk because people didn't know really what was happening. all they know is that we was finding bodies. kids was missing, and bodies were popping up all over the place. so that was a great deal of mistrust. >> the fear permeated the whole city such that the children, the families, wanted the police to solve this case, you know. >> but three days into 1981, lubby jeter, a friendly tenth grader who works part time at a car wash, disappears outside a grocery store a few miles from his home. his badly decomposed body is found in the woods a month later. police determine he was strangled. then, 15-year-old terry pugh doesn't show up for school on january 22nd. a concerned teacher sets out to find him.

>> when we got out there to where he lived, somebody told us that he had just got picked up in a car, and we got there a little bit too late. well, he didn't come home that night. as a matter of fact, he didn't come home anymore because they found him dead. >> terry pugh is discovered two days later in a wooded area strangled by a cord. another crime scene without any clues leaves police feeling helpless. >> i was mad because i don't know who the guy is. >> are you scared? >> for the children. not for myself. >> how long has he been missing? >> he didn't go to school today. he stole a car. >> uh-huh. >> tennis shoes. suspect also has long curly hair.

>> people are frustrated. they are just as frustrated as we are, if not more. >> you have to realize that the police officers, they also were parents and, therefore, they had a heartful and a senseful mind in trying to do what was right because it could have been one of theirs. and fortunate it wasn't. >> in yet another attempt to protect the city's children, mayor maynard jackson and the atlantic city council institute a citywide curfew. no children under the age of 16 are allowed on the streets after dark. >> the curfew does not guarantee safety. the curfew is, as i said before, a step in a series of steps to create the greatest possible environment of safety that we can. >> do you realize what you have done? you've got the whole police department looking for you. >> i'm under just too much

pressure. >> you're under too much pressure? and this is what caused you to walk out? >> the nighttime curfew gives little comfort since many of the disappearances happened in broad daylight. but in spite of the curfew, increased patrols and searches by volunteers, three more boys vanish in the month of february and are later found dead. atlanta's list of missing and murdered children has now reached 25. realizing that they need to revamp the strategy in solving the case, state officials ask for additional help and the fbi sends more agents to atlanta. >> we had meetings with the fbi. and the profile that they gave us was of a young, black man. we were somewhat concerned about that profile because historically those who had been

involved in serial killings were not black men. >> we began to wonder. how was he able to escape detection of the police in the city of atlanta because during this period after a year, atlanta became an armed camp. and yet he was still under their nose, taking away with victims. that indicated to me that the killer was enjoying the game of cat and mouse. >> in addition to constructing a profile of the suspect or suspects, investigators also hello?

the words are going this way-there's no way. . .

deposit a check with a photo. pay someone with an email. and bank seamlessly with our award-winning mobile app. take a step forward... and chase what matters. in the span of nearly two years, 25 children from atlanta's poor inner city neighborhoods are murdered or missing. a serial killer is on the loose, striking fear into the hearts of every citizen. >> there is something wrong with the spirit of atlanta. we've got street lights, but they aren't bright enough. we've got policemen, but they can't see enough.

we've got citizens who know what's going on, but they're not brave enough to tell what they know. >> for the children of atlanta, attending the funerals of their friends only compounds their sense of fear. ♪ >> we start forming our own theories about what was going on and why people were being taken, and you know, what we were going to do. so you really had this kind of fanciful notion about how you were not going to become a victim but at the same time, i can remember being absolutely terrified. >> residents of one inner city neighborhood decide to take matters into their own hands. >> now we, the people, in techwood, we are organizing to arm ourselves to protect,

preserve and defend ourselves. >> we had a group roaming the grounds with bats at night. they called themselves the bat patrol. >> what do you have in your hand? >> a bat. >> is that what you carry around for protection? >> i sure don't play baseball with it. >> i walk around with a baseball bat so when he come up on me, he better have something in his hand, too. >> i was excited about the bat patrol because i saw these guys who, you know, remind you of just everyday guys on the streets carrying around bats and saying we're going to protect the children. so, you know, being 13, i thought that that was a good thing. and thought that what they were doing was important and was valuable to the community. >> but even while the bat patrols try to protect the most vulnerable in their community, another child, 13-year-old timothy hill, disappears on march 12th. two weeks later, his body is found floating in the chattahoochee river. by the end of march, four more of atlanta's youth go missing.

since three of the bodies are recovered from rivers, police stake out several well-traveled bridges in hopes of catching the killer. >> the decision was made because victims had been placed in rivers after the information came out about the dog hair and fibers on the clothing of the victims. >> the killer eludes police, and from april to may, three more young men disappear. jimmy ray payne, william barrett, and nathaniel cater. payne and cater are in their 20s but otherwise fit the profile of the other victims, young, black and poor. surveillance around river bridges goes on for a month without a break. then in the still of pre-dawn darkness, a police recruit hears something. >> the night of may 22nd, 1981,

they staked out the james jackson parkway bridge over the chattahoochee river. and they staked it out with four officers. well, about 3:00 a.m. that morning, they were about to terminate the stakeout and go home. >> and this particular recruit was under the jackson parkway bridge. he heard this big ploop, big splash, ploop, like something heavy had been dropped into the water. >> but he didn't see anything and nobody came up. so he radioed up, looked up to the bridge and he saw a light on the bridge on a car. and this is a pretty high bridge. so he radioed up across the bridge and told the officers on the other side that there was a car on the bridge and as the car went across the bridge, it turned around immediately, went back across the bridge, and by this time the fbi and the chase car had fallen in behind the car

and stopped it at the interstate 285. up next, the break police have been waiting for. >> at approximately 5:00 p.m. this date, wayne williams, a black male, aged 23 years of age, was taken into custody. [ female announcer ] girls don't talk about pads... but they do talk about always infinity. [ marcy ] it's like memory foam. [ female announcer ] the only pad made from a revolutionary material. [ erina ] it totally fits to your body

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may 22nd, 1981, after nearly two years of investigating the murders of atlanta's children, police finally get what they hope is a break in the case. in the early morning hours, investigators staking out the chattahoochee river hear a splash, then see a car drive away from the scene. police follow the vehicle and stop the car on highway 285.

the driver is identified as 23-year-old wayne williams, an aspiring music promoter who investigators later determined has lived near many of the victims. >> and they questioned him about why was he on the bridge. he said he was coming from cobb county, had been to some girl's house. and secondly, he asked him, what did you throw of the bridge? he said, i threw some garbage. >> he was nervous. there were some items in the back of the car, one being a rope or ligature-type instrument with some clothing. williams made the statement to the effect, what's this all about? and then he said, i know it's about those kids, isn't it? and they didn't feel they had probable cause to make an arrest because nobody saw a body. and so they let him go on his way. >> though they had a suspect in their grasp, police are forced to let williams go. two days later, they discover the body of 27-year-old nathaniel cater in the chattahoochee river.

>> cater had been seen with wayne williams at falcon hotel in atlanta. and he had actually told some people -- told some people who knew him cater was very upset. he told folks he was in trouble. >> the incident on the bridge now takes center stage as investigators tie williams to the scene of the crime. police obtain a warrant to search his car and home. >> they obtained samples of the hair of his dog and fibers from the surroundings of williams, including the automobile he was driving, the carpet in it, the carpet in his room, and the bedspread, throw rug and other items in his home. as a result of the tests done by the crime lab, they determine that yeah, we had the right forensics here.

we had the same fiber and hair, in their opinion, that they found on the bodies of the victims. >> adding to the physical evidence, the fbi gives williams three polygraph tests. all of which indicate he is not telling the truth. then, williams surprises everyone by calling a news conference claiming his innocence. while his name and face would soon be known worldwide, in an effort to protect his identity, williams asked the news media not to show his face on television. >> did you know that at the time you were crossing that bridge, you were not far from where one of these previous bodies had been found? >> no, i didn't. >> but with the evidence all pointing in williams' direction, authorities arrest him at his home on the afternoon of june 21st, 1981. >> at approximately 5:00 p.m. this date, wayne williams, who is a black male, age 23 years of age, was taken into custody on an arrest warrant charging him with the criminal homicide of

mr. nathaniel cater. >> police will also link and charge williams with the murder of jimmy ray payne. >> there was a perceptible sigh of relief that finally somebody has been arrested. although, there was concern that maybe they were arresting a black man just -- instead of a white man, just to get the pressure off. >> six months after his arrest, wayne williams goes to trial for the two murders. >> my client is innocent. he did not kill anyone. >> the defense argues that williams was in the wrong place at the wrong time the night police spotted him on the bridge and that authorities made a rush to judgment because they were eager to end the case. but the prosecution builds a convincing case based on circumstantial and scientific evidence. >> here we had three experts we were able to get from the whole

country and world concluded that it would be virtually impossible for the combination of fibers to have come from a source other than that of williams. >> one of the most chilling aspects of the case was the d.a.'s claim about how williams managed to lure so many victims. >> he was a talent scout who gave auditions to young people. he handed out flyers telling them to come see him. and this was just bait for him, if you will. he never made any money, not one cent from this business. i think the main motive in this case was, and we proved that williams had contempt for young black street people. williams felt they were pulling down his race. >> on february 22nd, 1982, wayne williams takes the stand.

under questioning from his attorneys, williams comes off as mild mannered, yet confident. but under cross-examination, the jury sees a different side of him. >> when i got close to him, and i asked him, i said, wayne, how did it feel when you were killing those children? and he blew up. >> the trial was certainly turned on wayne williams' testimony. the fact that jack mallard actually got wayne williams to be combative and angry and snapping and sarcastic, that showed the jury that this apparently mild-mannered, young man might, in fact, be capable of committing these crimes. >> after a nine-week trial, 700 exhibits and 250 witnesses, the jury reaches a verdict. they find wayne williams guilty of the murders of nathaniel cater and jimmy ray payne. he is given two consecutive life sentences.

>> i felt a relief. we had two years of chilling anxiety throughout this city. and it was a stampede of media that suddenly ended. and so it was a relief, very much so. >> all of us were hopeful that this thing was over and wanted to put it behind us. but i think ultimately what made that impossible is because we still had these unresolved cases. >> despite the verdict, williams continues to maintain his innocence. he has yet to be charged with any of the other child murders, because there is no physical evidence linking him to those crimes.

>> people were relieved, but they were still vigilant, because they didn't know if he did all of those murders. we were relieved, but we were still concerned. >> even though it's been a long time ago, it still rests in our hearts in terms of what we went through. it was a very uneasy time for the city of atlanta. and thank god we did get through it. we really hope that the person that truly was responsible is, indeed, incarcerated. but we can never be sure. we were left with a lot of uneasy feelings about it. >> in may of 2005, louis graham, the chief of police in atlanta's dekalb county reopened some of the cases saying he was never convinced that wayne williams was responsible for all of the killings. graham had been an investigator on the case when williams was arrested. in early 2006, the new investigation had stalled, and